Golden Age, Vintage & Antique RCWant to discuss some of those from the golden age, vintage rc planes or even an old classic antique vintage rc planes, radios, engines, etc? This is the place for you. Enjoy!

All of your models are awesome looking. I think the Krylon is out for me unless I use a clear coat over it. I don't think it's fue; proof. What did you use to get the gloss over the latex? That is still an open option for me.

Joe,
The 1/3 Waco had Gloss Minwax Polycrylic sprayed over the latex. This is gas proof but not glow proof. For latex you need to use Nelson's Hobby Specialties Clear. You can do a google search for it. I used it in the past and it works great.

Dash7ATP, I use Krylon and then topcoat with Top FLIGHT[ Tower hobbies] Lustercoat clear. I use mostly gas but if I went to glowI'm still OK. It works for me.
Bill
AMA6416
WB 126

Anthony and Bill,

Thanks to both of your for your tips. I had not considered the Lustercoat. How does it hold up and does it tend to yellow? As much as I liked the K & B poxy, their clear did yellow over time. I have since been using the automotive clear coats. Almost bullet proof and does not yellow. I haven't tried it over the products I'm now considering. I'm seriously giving thought to using KlasKote for my color coat. Any comments on that? I know it covers well and a thin coat should not add too much weight........

Hi guys,
A friend of mine recently finished a beautifully donew Balsa USA 1/3 scale SE-5a. His details are jaw dropping. I told him obout our forum here and he has been following it. A month or so ago, I asked about how you folks did your cockpit coamings and I gat a few good ideas. My friend Dick sent me a few photos os how he did it on his SE-5. I had a few questions, and I post them and his response. This is pretty good stuff, and I"m sure it will help someone else later.

Hi Joe -

Have been following your (and others) build progress on your ‘waco brothers’ web site. Noted some recent dialogue that pertained to cockpit combing and thought my experience doing it on my se5a might be of interest to some who may have not yet done theirs.

These are pixs I took during the time I did mine and I’d be happy to share them along with the steps involved (in a separate email to you) should you think they would be interested. I used thin,soft pigskin leather. Whole process was relatively easy and straight forward.. encountered no problems.

Don’t want to butt in on the web site and thought I pass it by you. Enjoying everyone’s progress and comments. Levona’s comments to you about all the time you spend building sounds like what I heard during my se5a build [img]cid:2EEC7FCB7D48412ABF09735DA1A8D150@AdminHP[/img]

My questions to Dick about his photos and his answer follows.
( Dick and I live about four hours apart, so we don't get togather very often)

Hi Dick,

That looks pretty good. So, where did you find the this, soft, pig skin? That looks like it might have a suede type of finish. I'm not being picky, well, maybe a little, but most of the photos I've seen of the Waco comibing appear to be a hard finish.

What was the purpose of the two rings of blue tape in the first photo? And what did you put under the leather to give it the cushioned look? It appears you may have the stitch holes marked off on the outer piece of tape. What was the inner piece for?

I'm beginning to close in on the finishing steps of my Waco.

Thanks for the photos.. They do give me a few ideas!

Joe -

The leather was courtesy of a friend. However, you can find thin leather at Michaels (a craft store) which should be OK, too (I almost bought a piece before my friend gave me a piece). I will be darkening mine later to make it more authentic looking. My leather was attached in the same number of sections and has the same number of eyelets as the full size a/c shown in my pictures.

Briefly, the two blue pieces of tape (3M) are guide lines for the where the leather and eyelet holes are later placed. The cushioned look as you say is from a piece ‘Foremost’ rubber cockpit combing that’s glued in place first. Following this, the outer edge of the leather is glued in place, then rolled over the combing and glued to the cockpit's inside deck. Holes for the eyelets were then drilled through the leather/cockpit deck/inside leather/ etc aligned and spaced where you see the marks on the outer blue tape. Following this, eyelets were inserted and laced. You could also use fuel line (slit down its center) instead of the Foremost combing.

It was important to do the steps in the correct order, as well as use the proper glue when attaching the leather. I used a craft type glue bought in Michaels, called ‘Aleens’s Tacky Glue’. Great stuff...sets up guickly and holds well. Has many uses...

Good luck with whatever you finally decide on... I know it will be nice!

I want to add a smoke system to the 1/3 Waco while I am doing the repair. I have never installed a smoke system so I have a few questions about how to go about it and what is needed. The engine is a 3W-157 twin, I have a 50oz gas tank installed and enogh room for a 50oz smoke tank. I would like to get a good 5 minutes of available smoke.

The mufflers have pressure fittings installed, do i plumb to the pressure fittings or do I need to get somehting else for the mufflers?

What kind of line should I use to plumb to the mufflers and the best method for making the connections?

I added flying wires and tail braces to my GP WACO this weekend. I used a couple of sizes of brass tubing to make the the tail brace fittings which were shaped and soldered together along with 2-56 hardware to mount them. The flying wires are a couple of 2-56 pull-pull cable DU-BRO sets mounted to the fuselage and center section cabanes. The adjustable clevises mount to brackets on the top and bottom wing panels for easy removal and field assembly. I plan to add the "javelin" brace as well. It was fun as I'd been thinking about how to add the details and finally had a chance to try it out. Next will be the dummy radial engine and it will be ready for the Owls Head Museum Model Festival in March.

Hello Albert, You've done some BEAUTIFUL work! I see on your landing gear profile you may have done what some kit makers have done... that the rear edge should end up behind the wing leading edge. That makes the whole triangle shape different. If you're not after 100% scale accuracy it'll be fine and much easier from an engineering standpoint.
I love the build. Mitch

I'm making progress on my Barth third scale Waco. I had to wait for Peter to return from vacation to mount the stab because the manual said "The AoA of the horizontal stabilizer should be 2 degrees (trailing edge up)." He did confirm that it should read "trailing edge down". Any way, the stab/fin are mounted, and are removable as an assembly for ease of transportation. I set it up with each elevator half having its own servo. Tomorrow I start the wings. The kit is pretty complete with many parts, and is well designed.

I'm making progress on my Barth third scale Waco. I had to wait for Peter to return from vacation to mount the stab because the manual said "The AoA of the horizontal stabilizer should be 2 degrees (trailing edge up)." He did confirm that it should read "trailing edge down". Any way, the stab/fin are mounted, and are removable as an assembly for ease of transportation. I set it up with each elevator half having its own servo. Tomorrow I start the wings. The kit is pretty complete with many parts, and is well designed.

Hi all,
I am working on the lower wing of the AMA 1/5 YMF and have a problem maybe someone can help me with. W-20 and W-19 templates are somehow quite short and don't reflect the plan when you compare them to cross section BB at the trailing edge?
Also I had a nice chat with Joe at Waco Classic about flying and landing wire sizes on the YMF, the front flying wire is 5/8" X 1/8" with 3/8X24 threaded ends, all other wires are 1/2" X 1/8" with 5/16X24 threaded ends. He said only one company makes them and all are standard by the threaded ends. That helped me decide about using Proctor #217B flat wire and box wire sizes. Any info on wing at W-20 and W-19 would be greatly welcomed. Thanks John

Go into the Nick Reeves site in the UK. He has flat flying wires in three sizes from 1/16 to 1/8 " and some beautiful forks, at a pretty good price., It is all stainless and can be silver soldered. He also sells the silver solder. Ihave put a link to his site somewhere way back with a photos of the forks (I call them clevises) which go on the ends of the flat wires. Ithink Ibought enough of the wire, more than enough of the fork sets, silver solder and flux, a piece of thin foux leather for the coaming, and had it all shipped to me for under $70.00 US. I'll post a photos of the forks here if Ican locate them.

Joe

They appear to be brass in the photo buit they are silver, and only about 5/8" long including the lock nut. One end is adjustable at about 3/16".

Go into the Nick Reeves site in the UK. He has flat flying wires in three sizes from 1/16 to 1/8 '' and some beautiful forks, at a pretty good price., It is all stainless and can be silver soldered. He also sells the silver solder. I have put a link to his site somewhere way back with a photos of the forks ( I call them clevises) which go on the ends of the flat wires. I think I bought enough of the wire, more than enough of the fork sets, silver solder and flux, a piece of thin foux leather for the coaming, and had it all shipped to me for under $70.00 US. I'll post a photos of the forks here if I can locate them.

Joe

They appear to be brass in the photo buit they are silver, and only about 5/8'' long including the lock nut. One end is adjustable at about 3/16''.

Knew Iwas getting close, but Ido believe that "finished" kind of snuck up on me....... still 'reviewing' to make sure nothing got skipped, but here's my 1/4 scale Barth Waco.

Saito 57cc gasser for power. Solartex covering with"Pink-it" pinking strips. Painted with Rustoleum mixed with enamel hardener, reducer,& flex agentand sprayed through an HVLPgun. Vinyl graphics are from Kirby's Kustom Vinyl. Since this last set of photos Ihave added the rigging and javelins. Still haven't weighed it. JR/Spektrum radio gear, mostly Hitec servos. Rx switches&charge jacks located in the 'luggage compartment'. Dual A123's for the Rx, LiPo for ignition. Sullivan smoke system.

Hope it's as fun in the air as my old Pica 1/6th scale was - had a lot of years of fun with that one! Might be even better - this one's a lot larger and has smoke! Old one had an Enya .90 4C, sounded good, the twin should sound even better. Middle of Winter in in SEMichigan.... no maiden for a while.

Go into the Nick Reeves site in the UK. He has flat flying wires in three sizes from 1/16 to 1/8 '' and some beautiful forks, at a pretty good price., It is all stainless and can be silver soldered. He also sells the silver solder. Ihave put a link to his site somewhere way back with a photos of the forks (I call them clevises) which go on the ends of the flat wires. Ithink Ibought enough of the wire, more than enough of the fork sets, silver solder and flux, a piece of thin foux leather for the coaming, and had it all shipped to me for under $70.00 US. I'll post a photos of the forks here if Ican locate them.

Joe

They appear to be brass in the photo buit they are silver, and only about 5/8'' long including the lock nut. One end is adjustable at about 3/16''.

Thanks Joe, that will save a lot of time and money, I'll order from Mike Reeves. Guess I figured out the rib misalignment problem, just kept sawing and sanding till everything fit.. My shops got an inch of saw dust on everything, wife's saying she hasn't seen me for days!
Thought it was interesting about the full size wires, at least for a novice like me.
Thanks again,